


Meeting Mia

by ElasticMonk



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Different Earths, Gen, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-19 13:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20210704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticMonk/pseuds/ElasticMonk
Summary: 5 times Oliver meets his daughter Mia throughout the multiverse.





	Meeting Mia

**Meeting Mia**

It pained Oliver’s heart to hear Felicity scream and cry for just a short amount of time, but this had been hours. He’d never experienced her crying this long. A few months ago he would have never been able to withstand seeing the love of his life in this much pain, but today was different. Today they were meeting their baby.

Felicity had been looking forward to this day for weeks. Going from counting down the days to her due date, to murmuring to herself about the benefits of reaching said due date, then begging the baby to get into the correct position and looking up the statistics of inducing, and finally settling on an excited freak out when contractions started and her water broke.

The midwife announced the head and he couldn’t help the massive grin on his face. “I love you so much,” he told his wife.

“I love you so much. I’ll love you even more when this baby is out of me,” Felicity replied through gritted teeth. Oliver let out a single chuckle before her tight grip on his hand sobered him.

It didn’t take long for their baby to arrive. The midwife cleaned her off, wrapped her in a white blanket that was peppered with pink and yellow dots, and handed her to Felicity. Oliver felt the tears coming at the sight of his daughter. His vision blurred when he heard Felicity greet their daughter. He blinked and tears dropped onto his cheeks.

“Hi, Mia,” he softly greeted. Felicity ran a finger down Mia’s little nose and gasped when their daughter opened her pink lips. The midwife asked if Oliver could hold Mia while she finished up with Felicity. Oliver carefully cradled their newborn and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He watched Mia look up at him with dazed, glassy eyes before closing them and cuddling up to him.

He felt a burst of pride when she completely relaxed in his arms. He hadn’t held a baby this small since John and Lyla’s came into the world. Oliver could hold Mia with one hand, but just in case he had her cradled in his arms, head in one hand and bum in the other. She weighed practically nothing to him.

He couldn’t wait to watch her grow.

…

A heavy weight had settled in his chest the moment he said goodbye to his baby girl. That was a few months ago. He missed his wife, his son, and his daughter with every fiber of his being. But saving the multiverse kept him occupied. He wouldn’t lie and say he never cried, because he did for a long time, and still did occasionally. He also wouldn’t lie and say he never thought about going back.

He thought about that every. single. day.

He was currently on Earth 200 Something. All he really knew was that it wasn’t _his _Earth. There was no giggling baby girl he named, or goodhearted and moody teenage boy he fought for, or Felicity the love of his life.

Oliver was tracking someone who was the catalyst of this Earth dying. He was currently in broad daylight walking streets that reminded him of Ivy Town’s small city center. He looked down at his phone to see his directions, when he heard a feminine voice yell his daughter’s name.

Goosebumps scattered across his arms. He knew that voice.

“Mia, you know the rules about the monkey bars.”

Oliver held his breath and turned to his right. There was a playground that was oddly rather empty, but on the edge he spotted the green monkey bars. He bit the inside of his cheek.

There was a little girl with blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. She couldn’t have been more than four. She was hanging on the bar smack in the middle of the monkey bars. He was about to question how she got that far without help, when she dangled on one hand before swinging to the next rung with practiced ease.

A woman appeared within seconds in front of the little girl. Her back was turned to Oliver, but she blocked who he was guessing was Mia’s way. The woman was gesturing wildly and Mia nodded sadly. The woman grabbed Mia under her arms and lifted the little girl onto her hip. She turned around and Oliver stopped breathing.

Felicity.

Her hair was a darker blonde only half put up and she wasn’t wearing glasses but that was her.

Oliver rammed his hip into something and gasped in pain. He looked down and saw a park bench. Had he been walking toward them? He looked back up at Felicity and Mia and thankfully saw them walking the opposite direction.

“But, Mom,” she moaned, “Daddy lets me go on the monkey bars.” Felicity gave Mia a stern look.

“And Mommy will be having a very serious talk with him about that tonight.”

“But I’m good at it!” Mia whined. Oliver’s heart clenched. Her voice was so little sounding.

Was that how his Mia would sound one day? Would she look as much like Felicity as this Mia did? Would she have his obvious athletic skills like this Mia?

His chest started to shake and his vision blurred. He couldn’t stay here and risk them seeing him. He jolted into a speed walk going in the direction of a coffee shop. Without a second thought he stormed into the shop’s bathroom and locked the door.

He sunk to the floor against the door and held his head in his hands. Sobs over took him and tears ran freely down his cheeks.

This wasn’t fair.

…

He had never felt so broken as he did the day he saw a possible toddler version of his daughter. But regardless when he closed his eyes and thought of his baby Mia, that little girl appeared alongside memories of his baby girl giggling at his wife.

It had been a few years since that day, or at least he thought it’d been close to a few years. It’d been hard to keep track. He missed his family the same amount as the first week and he knew that would never change.

The Monitor hadn’t told him much about the Earth he was currently on, just named a city that might be the catalyst, Star City. Oliver had been to many Star Cities over his time in the multiverse. Some were similar to his, others were the complete opposite, and others were scarily identical.

This one was similar, as far as he could tell. There didn’t seem to be vigilantes in this one. There was a Smoak Inc which made him feel queasy about. But he reminded himself that his Felicity had come up with the name Smoak Technologies, so even if this was his wife’s doppelganger there were differences in them.

Oliver had been circling Smoak Inc for the better part of the day. Not for a hopeful glance of his “wife” but because he’d noticed some things that didn’t add up involving that building. Ever since the day he saw Earth 221’s Felicity and Mia, he stayed away from anywhere that they might possibly be on each earth. So far it had worked.

He walked into the building right around 6pm when most of the employees were leaving. He had stolen a key card off a man just a few minutes ago. From what he’d seen, he’d need it to get to the elevators and to start the elevator. He gave a quick wave to the security guard at the desk who didn’t give a second glance once Oliver’s key worked.

Oliver went through each floor, painstakingly. He was looking for anything that was out of the ordinary. He ignored his gut feeling to run far away from any building that held the Smoak or Queen or Clayton name. He made it to one of the top floors when he froze.

Sitting in the hallway outside an office was a young man. Oliver ducked into the shadows the second he noticed the man’s breathing change. That’s when Oliver stopped breathing.

William.

He was older, possibly in his early twenties. He was wearing a leather jacket and his hair was dark and kind of curly. He squinted and frowned in Oliver’s direction but quickly went back to reading his tablet. Oliver let out a breath of relief and inched back toward the stairwell.

There was a crash from inside the office William was outside. Will jumped up and opened the door. He rushed in and Oliver turned around to escape.

“Mia!” a man’s voice shouted.

“I didn’t do it!” a young child’s voice shouted back.

“Both of you, out!” The hairs on Oliver’s neck bristled. That was Felicity.

“Mom,” both of them moaned. Oliver froze. His William never called Felicity Mom, as far as he was aware.

Oliver had his hand on the stairwell doorknob when bickering started between the two children. The bickering got louder and he glanced back to the office. His chest tightened.

Mia still had the blonde ponytail, but the ends were curled. Her hands were in fists by her side and she had an oddly familiar glare set on William. She was still little, probably around eight.

The door slammed shut, probably by Felicity, and Mia reeled a fist back. She aimed for William’s stomach but he caught her hand in his, almost as if that happened regularly. Mia settled for stomping on his foot. William groaned and glared at her.

“What’s the point of Dad’s training if you don’t use it?” Mia taunted with a sly grin. William’s eyes narrowed. Then suddenly he grabbed Mia around the waist, lifted her, and spun her upside down.

“Dad’s training is for _bad _guys, Mia,” he explained. “You’d know that if you paid attention to his lectures.”

“I can just kick you in the face, you know?” Mia sassed.

“And I can get your math practice doubled, or better yet no reading for fun.”

Oliver cracked a smile, of course she’d love to read but hate math. A combination of Felicity and him at its greatest. Oliver didn’t feel his heart breaking apart like he did last time he saw a version of his child. He was sad, according to the tears in his eyes, but he was also happy. It was like he got to see a glimpse of his children and he would take all the glimpses he could.

…

Earth 100 Something. That’s where Oliver was. It’d been a few months since he’d come across any family doppelganger. The last time, it had been Felicity. He didn’t know much about her, other than she didn’t have blonde hair or glasses and was wearing something similar to what she wore the first year he knew her. She had been talking on the phone with someone that made her smile, and that was all he knew. He had imagined it being his doppelganger or maybe one of their kids, but he was glad he didn’t know.

He learned through traveling the multiverse that not every Earth held him and Felicity together. Sometimes they were divorced, or had never been in a relationship, or never even met. Other times they looked vastly different but still knew each other in some form or another be it friends or romantic spouses or coworkers. He liked to hope that eventually the Oliver and Felicitys that weren’t spouses found their way to one another.

The last William he saw wore a suit and carried a pile of papers. He was in his twenties and seemed utterly depressed. Oliver could only imagine why, but he didn’t like to think about it. He’d seen a few Williams. Enough to know that he honestly didn’t care what his son turned out to be as long as he was happy and leading a good life.

He’d seen forms of Mia less. She seemed to be a rare occurrence in the multiverse. She always had blonde hair and was often feisty and athletic.

Oliver took a second to rest during a chase. He looked over his shoulder, sent a few arrows back at his opponent, then took off again. He held a steady pace until he heard children screaming. He looked over his shoulder. Ice entered his veins.

“Mia,” he breathed. She was being dragged by her ponytail with a gun pressed to her head. On instinct he raised his bow. “Let her go!”

“Leave my Earth!”

Oliver met Mia’s eyes. She wasn’t scared. She seemed determined. Oliver’s heart started to race. What was she going to do? She couldn’t have been more than thirteen. What could she do?

It took two seconds for her to jab the man holding her in the crotch, duck, and grab the gun out of his hand throwing it far away. Oliver released an arrow before she was out of his grasp. It hit the man solidly in the chest. He dropped dead behind Mia. She turned to look at him and Oliver found himself calling out to her.

“Mia!”

She turned to him with a crease between her brows. Oliver ran toward her. “Who are you?” She looked him up and down. Oliver felt his stomach drop. She didn’t know him? “How do you know my name?”

“I.. heard your teacher,” he stumbled. Mia seemed pleased with that answer but the crease between her eyebrows didn’t disappear. In fact he saw recognition form on her face.

“Are you my-.”

She was cut off by her teacher grabbing her. “Are you okay, Mia? Are you hurt?” the teacher fussed. Oliver took his moment and disappeared down the road. He stopped in an alley and rested against the wall.

She didn’t know him. Was she about to call him dad? Did Felicity not talk about him? Were there no photos of him around?

Once again pain filled tears dripped out of his eyes. The ache in his chest grew. The idea that Mia didn’t even recognize him brought him to his knees. He didn’t want that.

…

He’d been in this fight for two decades. Going from Earth to Earth throughout the multiverse for far too long. He had asked to go back to his own Earth so many times just to get denied that he’d given up. His memories of his family were fading. He relied heavily on the glimpses of them he has had over the years while traveling. He never thought this fight would take so long.

He hadn’t seen a Mia in years. Every time he saw a version of his wife or son, he looked around for one of his daughter just to be left disappointed. It had even been a few years since he’d seen a William and Felicity together. He didn’t know how to describe his longing to see them all together.

He figured eventually he’d stop being shocked at seeing people that looked like his family, but it never happened. He always wanted to wrap them in his arms and never let them go. He couldn’t count the number of times he wished he could go back to them.

But everything led to where he was, bow raised and suit on.

He wanted this to be the end.

The end to his suffering. The end to this war. The end to everything.

He released his arrow with precision. It sunk into whomever he was fighting’s chest. He couldn’t remember who he was fighting at this point. He didn’t care.

A portal opened beside him and the Monitor stepped out of it.

“Your time is finished,” he said. Oliver lowered his bow and nodded once.

“Where?”

The Monitor looked down at him then over his shoulder into the portal. Without a second thought, Oliver stepped into the portal. He followed the Monitor through the fog until they reached their destination.

Oliver looked up at the Monitor. “What is this?” his voice was weak.

Could it really be?

“Your home,” the Monitor replied. Oliver frowned. “Your children and wife wait for you.” He motioned toward the house Oliver left 20 years ago.

“Wh.. what do you mean?”

“Go inside.” With that the Monitor went back into the portal and it closed leaving Oliver on his lawn.

Oliver stood outside for a long time. He saw people moving through the windows, but nothing clear enough to distinguish. Eventually the porch door opened and Felicity stepped out. Oliver stopped breathing in fear that she wouldn’t recognize him.

“Oliver.” She was moving toward him fast, then he realized he was moving toward her too. She collided with him hard, but he didn’t let it stop him from lifting her and holding her tight.

“Felicity,” he breathed. She let out a tearful laugh and pulled her head back to look at him. She scratched at his beard then cupped his cheek her eyes roaming over his face. His did the same then he noticed her looking at his lips. He wasted no more time and kissed her.

“Mom?” a faint voice called from within the house. Felicity pulled away from him and rested her forehead against his. She grinned when he nuzzled her nose with his.

“I missed you,” Oliver whispered. Felicity opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Mia calling from within the kitchen “Is that Mia?” She nodded. Oliver put Felicity on the ground, pressing another kiss on her lips, and taking her hand before venturing toward the porch.

“Mom?” Mia was standing in the door. She frowned at the sight of Oliver. Felicity gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Dad!” William yelled spotting Oliver and Felicity from behind Mia. He squeezed past his sister and sprinted to them. Oliver’s breath left him when William slammed into his arms.

“Will.” A tear dropped down Oliver’s cheek, much like the tear he shed from his last goodbye with his son.

“Mom?” Mia’s voice was wary. Oliver opened his eyes to see his wife next to his daughter. William pulled back and smiled brightly at his father. Oliver felt a sense of relief wash over him.

“I missed you, buddy,” Oliver choked out. William pulled Oliver into another hug.

“I love you, Dad,” he replied. Oliver carefully took deep breaths to halt his crying. When he opened his eyes again, Mia and Felicity were closer to them. Felicity was holding their daughter’s hand.

“Dad?” Mia carefully asked as if she was trying out the word. Oliver nodded once, smiling with tears running down his cheeks.

“Hi, Mia,” he softly greeted. Mia watched him for a moment before walking into his open arms.


End file.
